While I Wasn't Quilting...

So, it's absolutely killing me that my quilt is sitting half finished.  Maybe this week I'll get to it.  Here's what I've been up to:

This is Gladys' room (with walkin closet) and dresser.  Before, with pale purple walls (white in the closet).

and after with "Gem Turquoise on the walls and closet, slightly darker shade on the dresser.

Even though it went quicker than I thought, it still kept me from quilting.  Gladys' birthday is Wednesday, and I'd told her long ago that her room was next on my list to paint and she picked her colors.  So, now it's done!

I've gotten her new sheets (light turquoise) for her birthday and would like to get matching curtains, too.  I've looked for curtains and I'm just not finding exactly what I want.  So now I'm thinking about making them.  Crazy.  And it would keep me from my quilt.  Hmmm.  What to do.

Day 5 - The Top is Done

Hassani was busy at soccer today, and let's face it, that means I had time to sew.  I got the blocks pieced together.  You can see it in the picture above, along with the possible border materials.  That's right, I changed my mind.  Once I had it pieced together and held the leaves material next to it, I decided that the combo would be way to busy.  Since I'm trying hard to avoid the "Autumn Threw Up" feel with this quilt, I did a quick rearrange and recalculate.  The excel spreadsheet I'd used to plan the orginal pattern came in very handy.  I used to see what sizes of borders I could make with the existing material. I considered a couple differnt combos and settled on a near-solid-red border on the inside:

Then next border is made of the red patterned material.  I got it cut and sewed on, but ran out of time before I could iron and take a picture.  So, the quilt top is done - picture coming soon.  I also cut and ironed the binding, which is the same near-solid-red material.  Next up, the quilt back.  It will either be all all leaves, or perhaps leaves with a strip of colors from the front.  So many possibilities!

However, there's a competing project on the horizon... Gladys' room is up to be painted this week and may interrupt the quilt for a few days.

Day 4 - Late Night

After everyone else went to bed, I stayed up and did some sewing!  I got all the rows pieced and then started sewing them to each other.  So here is the quilt top, about 3/4 done.

Day 4 - A Couple More Rows

I've got the 4 different rows in the quilt laid out.  They just repeat for the rest of the quilt.  I also got all the rest of the first rows laid out - these are the ones the spacing was messed up on, so I tried to sew them a little tighter.  I'm hoping to get more time tonight and see how far I can get.

Day 4

I got a few minutes to quilt today and mangaed to put together the first two rows.  Overall, it's really good.  I've got two issues, though. 

1.)  the blocks on my top row weren't exactly even.  The reds were a little bigger than the pieced blocks.  The second row was fine, so I'm guessing the pieced blocks on the top row are a little small.  I double seamed a few places on the top row, making the seam a little bigger than 1/4" in order to make them line up.  I'm going to think about this when I put in the next rows.

2.) I find myself wishing my red blocks were more solid red and less print.  I think it will be better when I get the whole thing together.  This is what happens when I change my pattern after buying my material.  The red print would make and AWESOME border for this quilt.  A little less awesome as a block.  I think the red wavy/near solid red material I'm going to use as a border would have made better blocks, but I didn't have enough of it, and wasn't willing to trek back to Lawrence to buy more.  So, we shall see.

While I was sewing today I stopped to take a couple pictures of one of my favorite features of my new sewing machine.  If you look at the silver foot on the machine, you can see a black edge on the right side.  This edge limits how far you can push the material past the edge of the foot, making a perfect 1/4" seam.  I used to use a post it note stuck to my machine.  This makes consistent seams so easy!

This picture shows my other favorite feature.  The top button pictured is the cut thread button.  That's right, my machine cuts the threads at the touch of a button.  It still gives me a little thrill every time I push it!  Many, many, many thanks to my mom for finding this machine and buying it for me for my birthday, Christmas, and occasions for years to come!  Mom, I think of you every time I use it, and I can't wait till we can sew together!

Days 2 & 3 - Blocks Cut, Old Quilt Patched

So, after I posted about Days 1 & 2, I actually did some more sewing and cutting and ended up with all my strip sets sewn together and cut into blocks.

Then, after cutting them out, I still wanted to quilt more.  But it was late, and I knew my next step involved laying the whole quilt out for a preview look and I wasn't ready to do that.  So I did a little quilt repair instead.

I started this quilt with my first sewing machine over 10 years ago.  I never did finish it.  I cut the blocks, or maybe just sewed the strip sets and stalled out.  So my mom finished it as a gift to me a couple years ago.  I love it!  Love, love, love this quilt!  Very special because of the team work between me and my mom, I think.  Anyway, it's seen a LOT of hard use.  It's a "floor quilt" at my house.  That means we use it as a throw rug in the living room.  David lives, plays, leaks milk (and other fluids) on this blanket.  It probably gets washed at least twice per week.  And it shows.  In fact, it had a couple holes on the top that I think were just spots the material plain wore out from all the washing!  So I asked my mom to bring me any scrap material she had left over from it.   I freehand cut some "squares" and sewed them on as patches.  Regrettably, I was too lazy to change thread from the orange I was using for the fall quilt.  I thought it would blend.  I was wrong. 

It's amazing how much the fabric has faded.  I don't think I'll be able to keep up with the wear at this point, and I'm tempted to retire it from hard use. But I love seeing it every day.   I'll probably just keep using and patching it.

Oh, and Day 3 - nothing on the quilt.  But the kids were off school and we fit in a trip for David's lab work, a book store trip, lunch with Dad, the zoo, buyinging pumpkins, a candy run, and a family movie night.  Perhaps the quilt will get a little more attention today, Day 4.

Fall Quilt - Days 1 and 2

I'm making a fall quilt!  It's going to be a floor quilt to use in the living room where David hangs out.  When my mom and aunt were here and we went on a quilt shop hop, I picked up material to use with a pattern my aunt had. 

You can see the material in the picture above.  The yellows, oranges, and browns are fat quarters.  The red/yellow/orange print and the red material were bought for borders, and the leaves material for the backing.

But I don't like doing things by a pattern.  I like to make my own pattern.  I really like symmetry, too.  So, what started out as an easy quilt pattern with big blocks has turned into this:

I used an Excel spreadsheet to experiment with some different patterns.  I saw a picture of a quilt with this pattern and liked it, so I made up a pattern to match and for use with my materials.  The print that was supposed to go for a large border became the 83 red squares in the pattern at left.  The 12 fat quarters of red, orange, and yellows - all different prints - are used in rail fence sort of block.  The blocks are arranged to frame the red squares. 

I did a lot of math to figure out if I had enough material to make the pattern change.  In the end, the fat quarters and the red print are going in the middle of the quilt, as shown in my pattern.  I mapped out an arrangement that uses the fat quarters symmetrically throughout the quilt.  Using that layout, I only need 4 different rail fence blocks.  That simplified things for me.  The nearly solid red will now be a skinny inner border and binding.  The leaf material from the back will now also be a ~4" border in the front. 

Once I knew it was going to work out - I didn't even have to buy more material! - I was anxious to get started.  First I cut my fat quarters into 2" strips.  I used my strip cutter, which I LOVE.   At my mom's suggestion, I put the strips in Ziplocs according to which of the 4 different types they will be. 

Then today, Day 2, I cut the 83 squares (5x5") from the red print and bagged them.  I had more time, so I started sewing the strips together.  Of the four different block types, I got two of the sets of strips sewn together.  I love the way the strip sets look the same at first glance, but on closer look you see they are made of different materials.

I'm really in the mood to just keep going.  Next up is to sew the other two strip sets.  Then I'll cut all the strip sets into 5x5" blocks.  Then I'll get to arrange the blocks and see if all of my calculations were correct.   However, the kids are out of school tomorrow, and their patience and level of self entertainment will not allow me to quilt while they are here.  I'm trying to think of fun things to do with them (pumpkin patch?  zoo?)  and not be quilt-cranky.  (But maybe after they go to bed tonight...)

David Update

I thought I'd do a little update on David.  He's been home for about 3 weeks now.  They aren't requiring as many labs as I was afraid of, and they've only adjusted his medicine dose once.  Overall, I have to say he's doing well, though he has a little cold right now.

Still, despite overall good health, David hasn't returned to normal, and I miss him!  While in the hospital they changed his seizure medicine dose.  As expected, this led to some dizziness and loss of skills he'd already mastered.  We expected it would take a while for him to get everything back, but I'm frustrated at how long it's taking.  David has most of his fine motor skills back, but gross motor has been a big loss.  He rarely sits on his own and when he does he doesn't last long.  He used to crawl across the room, but now it's just a foot at a time, and probably just once each day.   He used to move around and explore a little - we were getting used to finding him in the kitchen or next to the hallway.  He does a lot of laying in the same spot now.  We're also finding him stuck on his stomach after he does try to roll or sit.  And he's sleeping quite a bit, too. 

This kind of thing is so frustrating.  What's causing it?  The new seizure med?  That's most likely, but there's also the new rickets med to consider.  And there's the cold.  It could be a factor.  So we wait.  We've decided to give him the full 4 weeks to adjust to the med.  So, if things aren't improving next week, we'll be trying to make an appointment to see the neuro.  It's one thing to do a med adjustment when I've seen him have seizures.  It feels a whole lot different when I thought he was fine at the old med level.

Still, even though I sometimes wonder how many faces he looks at me, we've been taking him out and he's having fun.  He's loving preschool, stroller rides, and even a ride in the bike trailer.